Tuesday, November 13, 2012

It ain't so, Elmo

Reuters--- The man who claimed he had underage sex with the puppeteer behind "Sesame Street" character Elmo recanted his claims on Tuesday...

The unnamed man, now 23, had claimed that Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash had a sexual relationship with him when the accuser was 16 years old...

"He wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship," the law firm Andreozzi and Associates, who represent the man, told U.S. media outlets in a statement.

Very good to know. The Clash we meet in the documentary "Being Elmo" seems like a great guy, and charges like this, even if unresolved, would have ruined his career and probably the Elmo character as well.

A generation or so ago, simply the news that such a person was gay would have been a career-threatening scandal. No longer, thank goodness.

Posted at 06:45:29 PM

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"A generation or so ago, simply the news that such a person was gay would have been a career-threatening scandal. No longer, thank goodness."

Maybe it's just me, but his sexual preference never crossed my mind. The fact that he works on a children's program is what was troubling to me. It's good to hear that he was cleared of any charges/allegations.

That said, I find Clash's statement kind of strange:

"I am a gay man. I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it," Clash said on Monday, saying he was taking a break from the TV show to deal with the situation."

Does this explain why he married in the first place and had a child? If this was explained in the documentary, then I must have missed it. It was 4:00 AM when I watched his documentary and I probably missed the part of him coming out.

I'm sorry to rain on the parade but I still think that it was morally wrong for Clash to get involved with this "barely legal" teenager. The difference in age, experience and authority seems to me to bear all the marks of exploitation on Clash's part. Let's recast this - an 18 year old female student hooks up with a 41 year old guy. Isn't the picture clearer now? It may be legal but it smells and reflects badly upon Clash and it embarassed Sesame Street.

David, have you seen the pictures of 26 yr old Mary-Kate Olsen & her 43 yr old French "boyfriend"? Ewwwww! But legal, even though they have a 16 yr age difference. True, looks bad, too. But they chose to appear in public, where we would have never known about Clash & any of his relationships had this guy not brought it into the open. He kept his personal life out of the spotlight, and I think that he should be allowed any relationships he wants as long as he behaved the way HE did.

Well, David P. Graf, maybe not as "right" as a relationship with a 26-year-old (and I don't know about the maturity of the Olsens, really), but the fact is we would have never heard about it, had this other guy not said something, because Clash has always been private about his, well, private life. and therefore, if we had never heard about it, we couldn't use that to judge him.

I don't have any difficulty with age differences in couples, as long as both are able legally to consent. It's a big cruel world out there, and you've got to take love where you find it. If Mary Kate and her boyfriend are 17 years apart, and it's OK with them, who are we to complain? Those who criticize should just stifle themselves.

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"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.